Inverting Operational Amplifier Configuration

In this Inverting Amplifier circuit the operational amplifier is connected with feedback to
produce a closed loop operation. When dealing with operational amplifiers there are two
very important rules to remember about inverting amplifiers, these are: “No current flows
into the input terminal” and that “V1 always equals V2”. However, in real world op-amp
circuits both of these rules are slightly broken.
This is because the junction of the input and feedback signal ( X ) is at the same potential as
the positive ( + ) input which is at zero volts or ground then, the junction is a “Virtual
Earth”. Because of this virtual earth node the input resistance of the amplifier is equal to
the value of the input resistor, Rin and the closed loop gain of the inverting amplifier can be
set by the ratio of the two external resistors.
We said above that there are two very important rules to remember about Inverting
Amplifiers or any operational amplifier for that matter and these are.
• No Current Flows into the Input Terminals
• The Differential Input Voltage is Zero as V1 = V2 = 0 (Virtual Earth)
Then by using these two rules we can derive the equation for calculating the closed-loop
gain of an inverting amplifier, using first principles.
Current ( i ) flows through the resistor network as shown.
Then, the Closed-Loop Voltage Gain of an Inverting Amplifier is given as.

and this can be transposed to give Vout as:

Linear Output
The negative sign in the equation indicates an inversion of the output signal with respect to
the input as it is 180o out of phase. This is due to the feedback being negative in value.
The equation for the output voltage Vout also shows that the circuit is linear in nature for a
fixed amplifier gain as Vout = Vin x Gain. This property can be very useful for converting a
smaller sensor signal to a much larger voltage.

Non-inverting Operational Amplifier Configuration

In this configuration, the input voltage signal, ( VIN ) is applied directly to the non-inverting
( + ) input terminal which means that the output gain of the amplifier becomes “Positive” in
value in contrast to the “Inverting Amplifier” circuit we saw in the last tutorial whose
output gain is negative in value. The result of this is that the output signal is “in-phase” with
the input signal.
Feedback control of the non-inverting operational amplifier is achieved by applying a small
part of the output voltage signal back to the inverting ( – ) input terminal via a Rƒ –
R2 voltage divider network, again producing negative feedback. This closed-loop
configuration produces a non-inverting amplifier circuit with very good stability, a very
high input impedance, Rin approaching infinity, as no current flows into the positive input
terminal, (ideal conditions) and a low output impedance, Rout as shown below.
In the previous Inverting Amplifier circuit, we said that for an ideal op-amp “No current
flows into the input terminal” of the amplifier and that “V1 always equals V2”. This was
because the junction of the input and feedback signal ( V1 ) are at the same potential.
In other words the junction is a “virtual earth” summing point. Because of this virtual earth
node the resistors, Rƒ and R2 form a simple potential divider network across the non-
inverting amplifier with the voltage gain of the circuit being determined by the ratios
of R2 and Rƒ as shown below.
Equivalent Potential Divider Network

Then using the formula to calculate the output voltage of a potential divider network, we
can calculate the closed-loop voltage gain ( AV ) of the Non-inverting Amplifier as follows:

Then the closed loop voltage gain of a Non-inverting Operational Amplifier will be given
as:
We can see from the equation above, that the overall closed-loop gain of a non-inverting
amplifier will always be greater but never less than one (unity), it is positive in nature and
is determined by the ratio of the values of Rƒ and R2.
If the value of the feedback resistor Rƒ is zero, the gain of the amplifier will be exactly equal
to one (unity). If resistor R2 is zero the gain will approach infinity, but in practice it will be
limited to the operational amplifiers open-loop differential gain, ( AO ).
We can easily convert an inverting operational amplifier configuration into a non-inverting
amplifier configuration by simply changing the input connections as shown.

Voltage Follower (Unity Gain Buffer)

If we made the feedback resistor, Rƒ equal to zero, (Rƒ = 0), and resistor R2 equal to infinity,
(R2 = ∞), then the circuit would have a fixed gain of “1” as all the output voltage would be
present on the inverting input terminal (negative feedback). This would then produce a
special type of the non-inverting amplifier circuit called a Voltage Follower or also called a
“unity gain buffer”.
As the input signal is connected directly to the non-inverting input of the amplifier the
output signal is not inverted resulting in the output voltage being equal to the input
voltage, Vout = Vin. This then makes the voltage follower circuit ideal as a Unity Gain
Buffer circuit because of its isolation properties.
The advantage of the unity gain voltage follower is that it can be used when impedance
matching or circuit isolation is more important than amplification as it maintains the signal
voltage. The input impedance of the voltage follower circuit is very high, typically above
1MΩ as it is equal to that of the operational amplifiers input resistance times its gain
( Rin x AO ). Also its output impedance is very low since an ideal op-amp condition is
assumed.
Non-inverting Voltage Follower

In this non-inverting circuit configuration, the input impedance Rin has increased to
infinity and the feedback impedance Rƒ reduced to zero. The output is connected directly
back to the negative inverting input so the feedback is 100% and Vin is exactly equal
to Vout giving it a fixed gain of 1 or unity. As the input voltage Vin is applied to the non-
inverting input the gain of the amplifier is given as:

Since no current flows into the non-inverting input terminal the input impedance is infinite
(ideal op-amp) and also no current flows through the feedback loop so any value of
resistance may be placed in the feedback loop without affecting the characteristics of the
circuit as no voltage is dissipated across it, zero current flows, zero voltage drop, zero
power loss.
As the input current is zero giving zero input power, the voltage follower can provide a
large power gain. However in most real unity gain buffer circuits a low value (typically
1kΩ) resistor is required to reduce any offset input leakage currents, and also if the
operational amplifier is of a current feedback type.
The voltage follower or unity gain buffer is a special and very useful type of Non-inverting
amplifier circuit that is commonly used in electronics to isolated circuits from each other
especially in High-order state variable or Sallen-Key type active filters to separate one filter
stage from the other. Typical digital buffer IC’s available are the 74LS125 Quad 3-state
buffer or the more common 74LS244 Octal buffer.
One final thought, the closed loop voltage gain of a voltage follower circuit is “1” or Unity.
The open loop voltage gain of an operational amplifier with no feedback is Infinite. Then
by carefully selecting the feedback components we can control the amount of gain
produced by a non-inverting operational amplifier anywhere from one to infinity.
Thus far we have analysed an inverting and non-inverting amplifier circuit that has just one
input signal, Vin. In the next tutorial about Operational Amplifiers, we will examine the
effect of the output voltage, Vout by connecting more inputs to the amplifier. This then
produces another common type of operational amplifier circuit called a Summing Amplifier
which can be used to “add” together the voltages present on its inputs.

Summing Amplifier Circuit

In this simple summing amplifier circuit, the output voltage, ( Vout ) now becomes
proportional to the sum of the input voltages, V1, V2, V3, etc. Then we can modify the
original equation for the inverting amplifier to take account of these new inputs thus:
However, if all the input impedances, ( RIN ) are equal in value, we can simplify the above
equation to give an output voltage of:

Summing Amplifier Equation

We now have an operational amplifier circuit that will amplify each individual input
voltage and produce an output voltage signal that is proportional to the algebraic “SUM” of
the three individual input voltages V1, V2 and V3. We can also add more inputs if required as
each individual input “see’s” their respective resistance, Rin as the only input impedance.
This is because the input signals are effectively isolated from each other by the “virtual
earth” node at the inverting input of the op-amp. A direct voltage addition can also be
obtained when all the resistances are of equal value and Rƒ is equal to Rin.
Note that when the summing point is connected to the inverting input of the op-amp the
circuit will produce the negative sum of any number of input voltages. Likewise, when the
summing point is connected to the non-inverting input of the op-amp, it will produce the
positive sum of the input voltages.
A Scaling Summing Amplifier can be made if the individual input resistors are “NOT”
equal. Then the equation would have to be modified to:

To make the math’s a little easier, we can rearrange the above formula to make the
feedback resistor Rƒ the subject of the equation giving the output voltage as:

This allows the output voltage to be easily calculated if more input resistors are connected
to the amplifiers inverting input terminal. The input impedance of each individual channel
is the value of their respective input resistors, ie, R1, R2, R3 … etc.
Sometimes we need a summing circuit to just add together two or more voltage signals
without any amplification. By putting all of the resistances of the circuit above to the same
value R, the op-amp will have a voltage gain of unity and an output voltage equal to the
direct sum of all the input voltages as shown:
The Summing Amplifier is a very flexible circuit indeed, enabling us to effectively “Add” or
“Sum” (hence its name) together several individual input signals. If the inputs
resistors, R1, R2, R3 etc, are all equal a “unity gain inverting adder” will be made. However, if
the input resistors are of different values a “scaling summing amplifier” is produced which
will output a weighted sum of the input signals.

Summing Amplifier Example No1

Find the output voltage of the following Summing Amplifier circuit.

Summing Amplifier

Using the previously found formula for the gain of the circuit:

We can now substitute the values of the resistors in the circuit as follows:
We know that the output voltage is the sum of the two amplified input signals and is
calculated as:

Then the output voltage of the Summing Amplifier circuit above is given as -45 mV and is
negative as its an inverting amplifier.